Old Walls - Painting / Drywall

Hello,

I'm in the process of painting my house's living room, but the walls are very old (house is 100 yrs old), and there are a LOT of imperfections.
I've painted a few walls before, but they were all in good shape, and all I had to do was apply a new coat of paint on top of the existing one.

As you can see in the pictures, I started to sand the walls, then some of the drywall started to show.

I don't know what to do, what steps need to be taken before I paint, if I have to apply some compound, re-do drywalls (seems like a lot of work), etc..

See attachments (before/after pictures)
Thank you.

Attached Thumbnails

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The walls appear to be plaster and not drywall.Also looks like maybe some old wallpaper on some of the walls.These old walls will never look new again but you can patch the bad spots with a patching plaster or joint compound.Sand all the loose off,skim with compound.When dry sand with 150 grit sandpaper, repeat until smooth enough to suit you.Yes,it is a lot of work be sure to wear your dust mask when sanding.Prime the patched spots before painting so they don't "flash" or show through the paint.Sherwin Williams has a Multi-Use primer that would work or Zinsser 1-2-3 would work also.I would probably go ahead and prime all the walls.Pick up a spray can of Coverstain to spray any marks that may bleed through the primer(water based primers are not the best at blocking stains).Using a flat paint for your finish paint would also help to hide the imperfections.keep it patched from now on.any time you see a spot coming loose fix it as soon as possible(another reason to use a flat paint-it touches up a lot better than satin or eggshell) once plaster starts coming off before you know it your back yard will be full of plaster chunks and you'll be out shopping for drywall.

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Look close at some of those picture. Sure looks like you can see what looks like a tile pattern. Are you sure someone did not just paint over some of that cheap fake tile board at some time.
Whatever, if you want that wall to look perfect just trying to patch it is going to take to long and still not look right.
Get rid of it.

CD is right- at that age it is plaster underneath and it has wallpaper that has been painted over.
It can be skimmed with joint compound and resurfaced to look as smooth as a babys butt- if you know what your doing. Have done it countless times.
Also there is a very great chance that some of the older paints contain lead- so precautions need to be taken.
Do a search here about skimming.

__________________
"It's better to come here with questions before you screw up than to come here after and ask how to fix them."- JS

The only thing I would like to add is don't use sandpaper, use sanding screens you can find them in the drywall dept. sandpaper on joint compound will fill up too quickly. The screens you can use all day. If you need help on skimming come on back.

As soon as I finished doing the first coat on the 2nd wall, I noticed some wallpaper peeling off, just like cdaniels mentioned.
I started to peel the wallpaper off, and it came off really easy!!!
I got 1/2 the first wall done, then I noticed a different pattern on the wall (a brown layer, not sure if part of wall or not). This confirms my theory that the house was "extended" before I bought it... (1/2 the room has hardwood subfloor and 1/2 has plywood subfloor).

I didn't have time to finish it all, but I took some pictures... Few questions:

1- What is the "brown layer"? Is it glue or something part of the wallpaper? Does it have to come off or can I paint/prime/skim coat on top of it?
2- What do I do now?? Some of the brown layer comes off easily, but some is really stuck there.

3- What would be the process to get the walls going again? - Skim coat + prime + paint?

Any suggestions/comments are appreciated.. I'm lost again

EDIT1: Picture 4 shows the difference between the "brown layer" and the plaster wall (AFAIK).
EDIT2: Picture 1 = ALL wallpaper has been removed.. it shows how the wall has 2 different textures/material.... 1/2 is either new plaster/drywall and 1/2 is clearly plaster...

What it seems to me is you are running into some old pulp paper ( real paper- not vinyl coated).
I would get it wet with a sponge and see if it will loosen up - give the water a bit of time to work- and use some mud knives ( 6" & 4 ") to scrape it off.
Then sponge off as much of the remaining paste as you can. A rough scrubbie helps.
Then prime all with Gardz. Skim as needed, reprime ( with Gardz or a pigmented primer) look over well and touch up mud as needed- sand and reprime that and paint 2 coats.

__________________
"It's better to come here with questions before you screw up than to come here after and ask how to fix them."- JS

What it seems to me is you are running into some old pulp paper ( real paper- not vinyl coated).
I would get it wet with a sponge and see if it will loosen up - give the water a bit of time to work- and use some mud knives ( 6" & 4 ") to scrape it off.
Then sponge off as much of the remaining paste as you can. A rough scrubbie helps.
Then prime all with Gardz. Skim as needed, reprime ( with Gardz or a pigmented primer) look over well and touch up mud as needed- sand and reprime that and paint 2 coats.

The only thing I would add is add a little fabric softener to your water it seems to help loosen it and at the worst makes the house smell good. If you have any large holes fill with all purpose mud or "hot mud" (setting mud comes in bag and has time on it like 20 minute 45, 90) then skim with lightweight #3 blue lid or ultra light puke been lid. But use the Gardz before you skim.